British Pantomime. I went to see Rapunzel at Chipping Norton's town theater tonight with my children. Pantomime, or Panto, is a Christmas-season tradition of live shows for children and their parents. The one we saw featured many of the conventions, which include: 1. A female character played obviously by a man, 2. Audience participation, with booing the villain, clapping, saying "No, you aren't" to contradict a character, and "hello"s. 3. The characters talking directly to the audience. 4. Lots of songs and dances. 5. One song with words put up on a banner for the audience to sing along with, and halves of the audience competing as to who can sing the best. 6. The characters throwing candy out to the audience. 7. Being able to take intermission ice cream back to the seat. 8. The story being adapted from a well-known children's story. 9. Lots of puns. 10. Slapstick.